Converting Images to PDF on Windows without Using Software

If you want to insert a set of images – whether personal, work-related, or study-related – into a PDF file, perhaps for sharing online or keeping the images hidden, you may think of using PDF creation software that is usually paid such as Adobe Acrobat or even free tools available online. However, if the task is limited to creating a PDF file consisting of a set of images, there is no need to use external tools as you can rely on a feature already available in the Windows system that will serve this purpose. Let’s see how to use it from the following lines.

In this explanation, we rely on the Microsoft Print to PDF feature that is present in almost all versions of Windows. This feature is not limited to including a set of images in a PDF file, but it allows you to create a PDF file from web pages or any files in general, making it a good way to hide files in Windows by hiding important images and files. No one would guess that they are hidden within a PDF file, and there is another feature as well, which is reducing the file size after including it in a PDF file, so it is a great feature in Windows. Here is how to use it to add a set of images to a PDF file easily.

How to convert images to PDF in Windows

For the purpose of this explanation, we have four images in different JPEG and PNG formats that we want to combine into one PDF file. The steps can be applied to any files that can be printed, not just images. Anyway, we will select all the images we want to merge and then right-click on any of them after selection to show you the options menu [as shown in the image above] where you click on the Print option to display the Print Pictures window. If you are using Windows 11, you will find this option after clicking on Show more options.

In the Print Pictures window, click on the drop-down menu under Printer to choose Microsoft Print to PDF from it, then uncheck the Fit picture to frame checkbox, which will increase the size of the images to fill the paper dimensions. If you leave this option, parts of the image will be cropped to match the dimensions of the paper (width and length) like the size of the paper, and you will notice the difference in the preview screen that appears on the window. Anyway, after finishing, you can click the Print button.

Windows will create a new PDF file instead of printing your images using a real printer, and will ask you to choose a location to save it, then you can choose the location you want and set a name for this file and write it in the File name box, then click the Save button to start the process of merging or embedding the images in the PDF file and save it in the specified location.

After completing the process of merging the images, which does not take much time, you can check the PDF file and view it using any PDF content viewer like browsers as in our experience, and you will notice that the images have been successfully included in the file, with each page taking a separate image. If you want to extract these images again from the PDF file, in this case, you will need to use software, and we have reviewed with you the programs that perform this function in the article 5 programs to extract images from PDF files so you can use any of them.